Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Sevice

Srinagar, June 7

A day ahead of Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh planned visit to frontier Kupwara district, a soldier was killed and another injured in a suspected Border Action Team (BAT) attack-cum-infiltration bid close to the LoC on Thursday morning.The slain soldier has been identified as Sepoy Sukhwinder Singh, 27, a resident of Hakam Singhwala in Bathinda, Punjab.While the Army in Srinagar said it was “standoff fire” (firing from a distance) in the Keran sector ahead of the LoC fence that initially left two soldiers injured, top defence sources said it was a “BAT attack-cum-infiltration bid”.The sources said in such attacks, BAT members try to assault the Army patrol to divert their attention to push infiltrators to this side. “Whenever there is firing on the patrol, gaps are created which facilitate infiltration,” they said.After the incident in Keran, the Army has launched a massive combing operation in the sector. There is possibility that attackers may have fled back to Pakistan-occupied Kashmir.The BAT attack-cum-infiltration bid took place days after the Director Generals of Military Operations of India and Pakistan agreed to “fully implement” the ceasefire pact of 2003 in letter and spirit.Srinagar-based defence spokesman Col Rajesh Kalia maintained that it was a “standoff attack” at an Army patrol in the Keran.“It was a standoff attack by terrorists on own link patrol ahead of the LoC fence in the Keran sector,” the spokesman said. He said the troops retaliated to the firing.On Wednesday, three unidentified militants were killed after the Army foiled an infiltration bid in the Machil sector along the LoC in Kupwara district. Since the halting of anti-militancy operations, the Army has killed at least 16 militant near the LoC.BAT attack-cum-infiltration bidWhile the Army in Srinagar said it was “standoff fire” in the Keran sector ahead of the LoC fence that initially left two soldiers injured, top defence sources said it was a “BAT attack-cum-infiltration bid”.